"The Virginian" Season One on DVD

The Virginian was one of the last of the early classic adult TV westerns. Airing from 1962-71, the epic 90-minutes-per-episode color series starred James Drury as the mysterious defender of law and order. Although Variety's review of the series opener was unenthusiastic at best, particularly in regard to lead Drury ("If Drury didn't hurt, he certainly didn't help"), The Virginian became the third longest-running western series of all-time and peaked at #10 in the year-end Nielsen ratings in its 1966-67 season. Tomorrow, the "fully restored and digitally remastered" first season on The Virginian gets its DVD debut.

The premiere episode of The Virginian featured another iconic TV western star— The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp's Hugh O'Brian. O'Brian spoke about the fight scene he did with star James Drury in his Archive of American Television interview-- both the scene and O'Brian's interview are highlighted on the Archive's Virginian show page.